When is it OK to share information? That used to be a question reserved for journalists and editors (and their lawyers and accountants). But now leaked information often comes straight for the source to your screen.
I shared information from Edward Snowden’s leaks, but I never once linked to any story that had details pulled from the Sony hacks. You’ve got to weigh several issues: The value of information, the trustworthiness and merit of the source, and the potential downside of sharing.
When Donald Sterling’s phone calls with his much younger girlfriend were leaked, everyone was ready to dissect the content. But few people questioned whether we should be hearing that kind of a conversation in the first place.
Where do we draw the lines? What do we have a right to know and share. Is every piece of recorded, stolen, or leaked information fair game?
In this week’s episode of What Hurts, Phil Bronstein and I tackle this issue, and discuss how it impacted Phil’s choices when he broke the story on the man who killed Osama bin Laden. We also riff on the top and bottom of the news, identify the lowest rung of the Hollywood hierarchy, and of course, there’s news of bacon. You can listen below, or in your favorite podcasting app, or in the highly recommended Overcast.
